By Monday mid day I was already significantly stressed looking at a strong storm surge from Irma. I was watching the water breech my seawall when I noticed what appeared to be two people clinging on to a raft of some sort being swept across the flooded marsh behind my house. I grabbed my wife and we both strained our eyes through the blowing rain trying to get a better look. The object was about an 1/8 of a mile out but we thought we were looking at two individuals in red life preservers hanging on to some type of structure. Rescue plans started rapidly running through my head as I ran and grabbed my binoculars. I rushed back down to the back porch with the binoculars still straining to see through the blowing rain. A closer look revealed a dock bench that someone had just strapped life preservers to, I let out a huge sigh of relief.
Over the next hour as the water continued to rise watch tons of other objects float by including an entire boathouse, huge pilings, floating docks and dock ramps, as well landscape timbers, coolers and trash cans.
With Irma’s peak hitting right at high tide most of the Lowcountry saw the worst storm surge since Hugo. The surge was even strong enough to dislodge and move the iconic Folly Beach life boat that has sat next to the road since Hugo. While cleanup efforts are well underway throughout our neighborhood roads a significant amount of debris is still floating around in the waterways. This debris is sure to hang around through hundreds of tide cycles and will be most apparent around our large spring tide events.
Please be diligent in your awareness of floating and partially submerged debris over the coming weeks. Large items such as sunken vessels should be reported to authorities for proper marking and hopefully removal.
Stay safe and keep those lines tight…
Captain Tim Pickett
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